Category: Atenas

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Slowing Down in Atenas + March Birding Trips

I’m beginning to take palms for granite!
These are by the church at central park.
Like steeples they point to God!
Uplifting!

I’m slowing down after a busy schedule during Reagan’s visit here though still having to learn how to truly rest!  🙂  I’m back to just one Spanish Class again since Zaray got a high school teaching position and can no longer teach our Tuesday night class at the church. And my conversational tutor Jason has moved to Liberia to live with his sister for awhile. So I’m on my own with Spanish and have a little more time to catch up on some work here at home.

But two great trips planned for March!  🙂

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Click to see the YouTube Video  from Cornell Lab of Ornithology showing the joys of birding.

Birding is an incredible hobby! Here Cornell says “Thank You” to all who helped with the 2015 Christmas Bird Count around the world. Watch the birds where you live! They will give you an incredible sense of joy and peace. And it is even more fun for me to capture many of them in photographs! My growing gallery of Costa Rica Birds now has photos of 161 species and growing monthly plus I’m getting some better images to replace or supplement older ones. Plus I’m about to add a pretty good collection from Nicaragua and already have one from Panama. Fun!

Lynn Thomson

“I think the most important quality in a birdwatcher is a willingness to stand quietly and see what comes. Our everyday lives obscure a truth about existence – that at the heart of everything there lies a stillness and a light.”
― Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Memoir
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Photo Gallery of Reagan Visit

My photo gallery of Reagan’s Visit to Costa Rica is now complete. Just click that title! And note that he has his own photo gallery connected to his blog for those of you who follow Reagan:   http://reagantravel.blogspot.com/

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Motown Fundraiser for Su Espacio

Tonight (Saturday) I helped Gail & Susan who planned a Motown Music Fundraiser Dinner at Etnia Pub here in Atenas with DJ playing Motown Music by a dance floor and we raised a good amount of money for the community center while having fun! Here’s a few pix:
Thanks to Gail & Susan for all the hard work to make it happen!
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Coffee Farm & Begin Jungle Trip

Gabriel was our guide at El Toledo Coffee Farm

His Mom made the coffee samples

And we decided our favorite before he told us which was
dark roast, light roast or medium roast

Then we watched the beans roast

Which were earlier sun-dried like this

We learned how organic “natural” farming is better than just organic

The purpose of many different kinds
of trees among the coffee plants

And ate a typical Tico lunch at Gabriel’s aunt’s house. A great total experience!

Reagan continues to say that sitting on my terrace is his favorite place.
I never show the driveway in photos, he noted; so here it is! Not picturesque!
I only use it when I have a rent car, like this week. 

Tonight – Sunday night – we are at the Hampton Inn Airport where we will be picked up at 5:30 in the morning for our trip to Tortuguero on the Caribbean Coast. Our big adventure starts with the van trip to the boat dock in the morning, driving over a mountain range and into the coastal rainforest for and hour and half boat trip through the jungle to our Laguna Lodge.

We are suppose to have internet access in the common areas, but if not, no more posts until Thursday.

Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here!



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Staying Local Today!

We started today after breakfast with a visit to the Feria or Farmers’ Market. See my photos from earlier post or how I use fresh fruits in an earlier post. The Feria is always a place my visitors want to see even if we don’t purchase anything.

The little Railroad Museum is nearby, so we went by it to make sure I knew how to get there Sunday afternoon which is the only time it is open. So some snaps of it before . . .

Ice cream at POPS, then we hang out at home rest of today.

And have dinner at a neighbor’s house nearby, Richard next door. It was really nice! I’ve included a shot of the view from his house looking over the roof of my landlord’s house. Quite a bit more expansive than my view!   🙂

View from Richard’s house at dinner tonight, looking over the roof of my landlord’s house.

Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here!



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Triquitraque or Flamevine Finally Blooming

Finally my concrete wall made pretty! Triquitraque or Flamevine

The triquitraque or flamevine I had planted 7 months ago started out with a burst of growth and then just quit and never bloomed much. So Jean-Luc suggested I feed them since the construction site soil was not particularly rich and I thus added a fertilizer, sort of a 12-12-12 from the La Coope Farm Store. Wow! what a difference it made! They grew and got greener and are now just starting to bloom. I think there will be more, but I’m sharing what I have now and I’m pleased! It kind of makes up for the Porterweed not blooming now. Both attract hummingbirds.

From above the flamevine contrasts nicely with the blue plumbago below.
I love it when a plan comes together!   🙂
And just in time for the visit here by Reagan Frazier from Nashville.
Photographed here on his camera on my terrace overlooking Atenas.
Thanks to Reagan for snapping this photo of me at the San Jose Airport!
I promise to give a warm welcome to anyone who comes to visit. Pura Vida!

Reagan arrived yesterday afternoon and today we took it easy, walking around Atenas Central a little and eating a typical Tico lunch or “Casado.” Tomorrow we start with a Tico Breakfast with a beautiful view at Casita del Cafe and then drive to Poas Volcano and the La Paz waterfalls so he can feel like a real tourist!  🙂   Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of the visit here!

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Palm Tanager

Palm Tanager
In my cecropia or yagrumo Tree
These first two shots were made at lunch today on my terrace while the
weaker 3rd photo made at breakfast yesterday was almost my only shot!
When you keep trying there will be a better shot eventually! Hopefully!
Palm Tanager
In my terrace cecropia or yagrumo tree.
Different shots show different aspects of a bird.
Palm Tanager Makes a Good Landing!
I love to catch a bird landing or taking off!
These are on my terrace rail at breakfast. Not best light for photo.
I make my identification with app and 2 books, my best call, not 100%!
Made the day before the top two shots. Click for larger image. 

This is in the family of the more common Blue-gray Tanager that I’ve photographed many times and the book says has a similar song. This is my first time to photograph these guys.

My Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery   OR   All My Costa Rica Photo Galleries


Those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.  ~Izaak Walton

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New Terrace Table & Chairs

I asked my landlord if I could have new cushions or cushion covers for the 4 large, clunky chairs with the large glass-topped table where I eat most meals. He agreed that they were very worn, dirty and some with broken zipper and Velcro tabs. So he said he would get one of his workers to find a seamstress to make new ones! (That’s the Tico way!) I go on the healthcare tour for 3 days and return to find a brand new table and chairs! I suspect it was cheaper to get this smaller, lighter-weight set than get new cushions if even available. So I have something brand new and fresh for my guest coming a week from Tuesday! And I like it! Even the smaller size!

There are a lot of advantages to renting! New furniture is one!  🙂
It makes the terrace look larger!
And looks good from inside too! I like it better than the old one!
Fresh and airy! New and clean!
I’m ready for Reagan now!
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Black-cowled Oriole

Black-cowled Oriole
Inside my house on a screen
Black-cowled Oriole
Inside my house as seen from outside before I opened the screen.
He flew away, probably fearful of houses now.

During the day when at home I leave the garden door without a screen open and the sliding glass doors and screens to the terrace open, thus easy for wildlife to sometimes explore inside.  🙂

When this happens I open all the other screens and then try to open the one he is on. As is often the case, when I started sliding this one (from the outside) he flew the other way out another window and up into a tree! I leave nothing fully open at night. Had a bat once and trying to avoid that if I can. 
From Charlie! Retired in Costa Rica!

See my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery with 156 species I’ve photographed in Costa Rica so far! And with about 900 species of birds here, I have a ways to go!   🙂